Incendiary Image of the Day: Gun World Hearts SIGs “Assault Rifle”

The SIG SAUER 556R is one hell of a modern sporting rifle. Or, if you prefer, rifle. Calling the civilian model an “assault rifle” is both technically incorrect and against the interests of The People of the Gun; the term was bastardized and mainstreamed by gun control advocates bent on civilian disarmament. That said, Gun World’s decision to use the term on its cover could simply reflect editorial senility. The buff book [that never met a gun it didn’t like] is “one of the oldest and most respected names inÂ firearms journalism, now in its 51st year of publication, is part ofÂ the dynamic Beckett Media family of Outdoor publications.” The passive construction and extra characters on their About Us web page are all theirs. As is the onus to explain the lapse. [h/t Benny]

This picture qualifies as an incendiary image of the day – what sane firearms-related company would use the term “assault rifle”? That will create a feeding frenzy among the anti’s. I think everyone of those books should be recalled and the whole thing reprinted after someone with political intelligence proofreads each line.

You must look to the owner of the Publishing house as in Recoil’s case the owner was a major contributor to the Obama campaign
Editors do what they are told to do by their bosses, and their Bosse’s Boss

It’s not just the term “assault rifle” that has been bastardized – unfortunately, the term “gun safety” has been ruined for me now as well. Every time I hear it, I have to think twice about the context.

The way “gun safety” is being thrown out by the antis isn’t even the correct usage. Keeping gang bangers from shooting each other is not “Gun Safety”. Gun Safety is safe handling and use of guns. I also cringe when I read or hear the term now.

“Common sense” has been similarly hijacked. When rational and reasonable people speak, the definitions of their terms are clear. When the goal is to obfuscate the truth with emotion, that is not the case. Still, I define “common sense” in terms of actual reason. “Gun safety” is best defined by Col Cooper and the NRA.

I mean, assault rifle, as bastardized as the term may be, is a real one (whereas “assault weapon” is not: at least the the context it’s used in American politics). If the 556R had a giggle switch, it would be an assault rifle (intermediate cartridge and all).

It’s a snafu for sure, but I don’t see any ulterior motive here, nor can I bring myself to get upset about it.

I’m inclined to wonder if it might not be a useful idea to just hijack the term assault rifle, and others, simply for the express purpose of confusing the haters and pulling the rug out from under their feet. Me, I just call a rifle a rifle but that’s precisely the point.

If its an AR, I call it that. An M16 or M4 used to be called service rifles when I was a rifleman in the USMC. The gun in my car is a patrol rifle. The ARs in my safe are self defense and hunting rifles. A 30 round mag is a standard capacity magazine or a “30 rounder.” Only the guns sitting in front of Feinstein, Yee, Bloomberg et all are assault rifles filled with high capacity clips. I feel no need to use the terms of the ignorant antis unless they are technically correct – and the antis being correct on anything is a rare occurrence indeed.

The reason is easy to spot to any layout editor: the word “Weapon” is 7 letters wide (W counts as two letters); the word “Rifle” is only 3 1/2 characters wide (i, f, and l only count as half a letter).

There is very little room at the top of that magazine cover, and the word “weapon” would make for a tight fit in that space. The cover would likely need to be redesigned to make it fit and to an editor on a deadline, the decision is easy—use the shorter word.

A layout editor, even for a gun magazine, may not even know that there is a difference in meaning between the terms “Assault Rifle” and “Assault Weapon” and if you pressed them on it, may think you pedantic for taking offense at such a narrow interpretation.

Yesterday’s episode of Doomsday Preppers featured a man from NC who mounted a rock River Arms Modern Sporting Rifle on an ATV. They called that a “Machine Gun”.
There seems to be runaway inflation, finding ever more incendiary terms for pretty plain rifles.